Okay Industries in New Britain not only cuts steel, but it can also cut its power at a moment's notice.
The company is one of about a dozen Connecticut businesses that have agreed to cut operations whenever the power grid reached maximum capacity.
It happened twice last year. When Okay received an email alert, the company immediately turned off its lights, the air conditioning and a few of their machines to help keep power on for Connecticut residents.
"We can reduce our energy consumption by about 30 to 40 percent. It's something that helps ISO New England out tremendously," Ed Tremblay, Okay Industries manager, said.
ISO New England is the company that manages the power grid. It says more Connecticut companies have signed up to cut power during a crisis than any other state in New England.
According to a spokesperson, energy use totaled more than 24,000 megawatts per day, or 76 percent of ISO New England's generating capacity.
To help with the load, United Illuminating activated its reserve power units to keep up with demand.
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"Those machines are activated at peak times, like this week, where there are very high temperatures and the system may be stressed," Michael West, of United Illuminating, said.
UI officials said energy conservation is important all year long, but especially so during a heat wave.
The company recommends using major appliances after 8 p.m., cleaning filters and vents to ensure things run efficiently and unplugging anything that's not in use.
As of Wednesday, companies have not been asked to cut power yet, but managers said they are ready if they do.
"We're just trying to make it a little better for everybody," Tremblay said.
